Modem issues; setting up a linux network
 

Okay, this is an odd situation but I'll try to be as descriptive as I possibly can be. Surely someone has done what I would like to do. Basically it's like this:
I have a linux box that is without internet access, I have a Conexant modem that I have the Linuxant drivers for, but I'm not going to pay them $20 for full functionality when I have a perfectly good 56k hardware modem sitting in my elderly IBM. The problem is that it's an ISA modem and my linux box doesn't have an ISA slot. My IBM is not a great system. It has a 200mhz Pentium MMX and 96MB of RAM as well as an integrated NIC but no hard drive. What I would like to do, (if it's possible) is to have the IBM machine network boot from my linux box, and then use its (the IBM's) modem to dial-up to the internet. Is this even possible? What if any, performance issues will I deal with? I know it's a little convoluted but I'd be glad to answer any questions anyone might have about anything. Here are the specs for the two machines.

Linux-Box

1.1GHz AMD Athlon XP
128MB DDR-SDRAM
40GB HDD
10/100 Ethernet adapter
Fedora Core 1 w/ kernel 2.6.10
---------------------
Elderly IBM

200MHZ Pentium MMX
96MB SDR-SDRAM
NO HDD
Integrated Ethernet
NO OPERATING SYSTEM

There have, in the past, been single-floppy distributions of linux, and I believe there have been some tailored to your purpose. Sorry I can't recall any specifics. If it were me, this approach would look like a lot less work than setting up network booting (but then, again, I've used floppy based distros before but not network booting). A 200 MHz Pentium won't even break a sweat handling traffic from a 56K modem. That class of machine makes a fine router/firewall for DSL-type connections, so a 56K modem should be at least as easy.

--- rod.

So, it would be better to just use a floppy based distro on the IBM and configure it as a router? OK. That sounds a lot easier. As far as a distro, I know you say can't recall specifics, but fortunately I have a bunch of them laying around. Hal91, DLX, LOAF, Damn Small Linux. I could even do a Linux from scratch.what programs, daemons, libraries etc. would I need? Any reccomendations?

I seem to recall that LOAF (no longer supported, I beleive) was intended to be used as a router. I used Coyote Linux for quite a while, and it is specifically set up to be a router, although I'm not positive about modem support. DSL gets talked about a lot on this site; perhaps asking some specific questions about that would help.

I can't give you a comprehensive list, but some things you will need are: A kernel (duh...) that supports either ipchains or (better) iptables. That is pretty much a given, these days. You will need drivers for your ethernet card(s), of course, and you will need a PPP driver/module. You will need some iptables/ipchains configuration script, which will probably be part of any router-specific distro. There are some tools that can be used to generate firewall scripts, although I've never used them. There are also some good general-purpose 'canned' scripts, of which homeLANSecurity is one that I use and like.

I just did a quick google search for 'linux single floppy router' and got quite a few hits that looked promising. Probably worth your while doing the same.

Hope this helps.

--- rod.

With a CD-ROM installed, I would use a Linux LIVECD on the IBM^ machine. No hard drive necessary . My favorite is Knoppix. Try here...http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html and also here...http://nfs.sourceforge.net/nfs-howto/index.html The connection will be NFS between Linux and Linux, and Samba between Linux and M$Windows.